This invention relates generally to farm equipment used in the handling of bales of hay or the like, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a vehicle mounted loader used in the handling of round bales.
Heretofore there have been a number of different types of bale loading devices used in loading and unloading rectangular shaped bales. More recently a trend in the farming and ranching industry has been to use large round bales for feeding cattle. The large round bales provide a greater amount of feed for animals in the field and the round bales need not be transferred from the field and stored under cover. But because of the size and weight of the round bales they are difficult to move, should it be desired to move the bales to a different location.
With the advent of the large round bales, there have been a number of prior art, bale-handling devides and carriers attached to tractors, trailers and farm vehicles. These devices are operated using hydraulic cylinders for lifting and loading the bales. The prior art lifting devices grip the sides of the round bale and through mechanical linkage, lift the bale into an adjacent vehicle or roll the bale onto the loading vehicle. None of these devices provide a portable bale loader which can be mounted on the rear of a vehicle so that the loader can load and unload the vehicle by lifting the round bale over the rear of the vehicle and on to the flat bed of the vehicle. Also, none of the prior art loaders are capable of suspending a round bale at the rear of the vehicle and unrolling the bale as it contacts the ground surface.
The subject invention provides a novel round bale loader having mechanical structure and advantages not disclosed in the prior art bale loading devices.